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In Cervantes' masterpiece, \:c Don Quijote, \:b
the author paints an escape from the world of 
strict and unified realities imposed by the
Renaissance to a new world where reality is
not so easily identifiable. Through the development of Don Quijote and Sancho
Panza, Cervantes enables the reader to see how appearances can alter reality and 
thus to visualize new relationships between man and his 
external world. A contemporary of Cervantes,
Calder\' on de la Barca, achieved a similar end in his play
\:c La Vida es Sueno. \:b The play is about a prince who, foretold to bring
destruction to his kingdom, is imprisoned in a tower from birth.
When the prince comes of age, his father decides to disregard the oracle
by bringing his sleeping son to the palace in order to test his worth.
Faithful to the oracle, the prince soon abuses
his new found power and is sent back to to
the tower in his sleep. When he wakes up,
he concludes that his life in the palace had just 
been a dream, and that reality is actually 
his life of torment in the tower.
 
The prince's perception of reality is very similar to that
of Don Quijote. In each case, the mind 
draws from its past experiences to 
form a perspective for reality.
The prince's experience in the tower suggests that reality is 
a life of torment and pain; Don Quijote's 
experiences with his books leads him to
believe that reality is a world of
knights errant and chivalry. Thus when Don Quijote
says, ``Every man is the child of his own works,''\footnote{$↑1$}{
Part I, Chapter IV, p. 48}
he is echoing one of Cervante's major themes.
 
Quijote's personal perspective of reality has
its base in the dual nature of a real history
as we understand it, and an imagination
that stems from his circumstances. This
imagination is fueled by the belief in his
ideal lady Dulcinea. As Don Quijote claims:

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{I can say that it is impossible that there could be any knight without a lady.
For it is as right and proper for them to be in love as for the the sky to 
have stars; and I can vouch for it that there has never been a knight errant
without a lady in any history whatever.$↑2$}}
\quote{$↑2$ Part I, Chapter XIII, p.99}
\noindent
Clearly, Dulcinea is Don Quijote's impetus, since he admits that he would
not be a knight errant at all if he did not
have her as the goal for his journeys. 

This relationship is reinforced in chapter XXV where
Don Quijote appears to be acting unnaturally
rational. His separation from Dulcinea results in a loss of his characteristic
perspective and causes Quijote to recognize his rationality as a madness:
 
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{I am mad, and mad I must be till you come back with the reply to a letter
which I intend to send by you to my Dulcinea.$↑3$}}
\nextquote{$↑3$ Part I, Chapter XXV, p. 203}
\noindent
He goes so far as to rationally explain the nonsense of being a knight errant 
and even to reveal the true nature of Dulcinea.
Only through the reassurance of his relationship 
with Dulcinea is Don Quijote finally able
to resume his proper duties as a knight errant.
 
The role of Beatrice in Dante's \:c Commedia \:b
strikingly parallels Dulcinea's role in Don Quijote. Both
characters represent abstract 
images of perfection for the men that worship them. In the
\:c Commedia\:b, Dante needs the image of Beatrice to continue his journey
through the afterworld. When Dante wearies and despairs, 
Virgil needs only to reaffirm Dante's belief in Beatrice as his goal. Similarly,
Don Quijote must have Dulcinea as a sponsor to his
world in order to continue. When
his unique perspective of reality falters, 
Don Quijote draws energy from the unequalled grace of Dulcinea.
The sharp contrast between the journeys of Dante and Don Quijote comes
at the end of the works. Dante finally
meets Beatrice, the object of his impetus, and thus is
able to achieve a state of divine grace. In
contrast, Don Quijote is never able to meet the object of his desire and dies 
disillusioned.

The cause of Quijote's downfall stems from his defeat by the Knight of the White 
Moon, Sampson Carrasco. Although Don Quijote refuses to recant his claims
of Dulcinea's beauty under the threat of death,
he nevertheless loses touch with her because he knows that no lady as fair
as she would tolerate a defeated knight.
With Dulcinea's departure, 
Don Quijote is stripped of all the energy that
is necessary in the persuit of a reality that is so contrary to all
other realities. He thus is left barren and
deluded with no reason to live.
 
Don Quijote's perspective of reality is 
only one of the many vantage points that Cervantes writes from in order to
confuse the reader. Structuring his work around
the proposition that every person draws from an experience exactly what
he puts into it, Cervantes writes the novel
from the perspectives of the many different
characters in the work. For the reader, the benefits
of this technique far outweigh the frustration of not understanding which
reality the author wishes to relate at any particular
moment. The reader's ability to see through the eyes and think from the perspective
of a particular character allows him to 
understand that character in a depth not otherwise attainable.
Thus when Don Quijote sees giants,\footnote{$↑4$}{
Part I, Chapter XIII, p. 68}
we are inclined to believe him.
Remarkably, we are also able to believe Sancho when he tells us that the same 
figures on the plain are windmills.
Such abrupt changes in perspective allow the reader great insight,
but distort his ability to understand reality from a familiar viewpoint.
 
This distortion of reality, which causes
the reader to lose his grasp on his own 
perspective, appears throughout the work.
Many scenes which appear to be the simple fantasies of Don Quijote
from the outside are actually intricately complicated by
Cervantes' ability to balance
different perspectives, forcing the reader to search through a labyrinth of 
appearances to find reality. 
Don Quijote often encounters puppets and actors which actually
enter into the real world as he sees it.
When Quijote attacks the Moorish puppets,\footnote{$↑5$}{
Part II, Chapter XXVI, p. 641}
the perspective is drawn in such a way that 
the puppets appear to be true
villians and Quijote appears to be a rational,
vengeful knight. The reader is, then, forced
to choose between two different fantasies. 
This choice is not simplified by the fact that Cervantes
is acting out the play through the mind of Don Quijote's historian,
Cide Hamete Benengeli, who is in turn
acting through the showman, Master Peter,
who in turn is acting through his puppets.
This complete distortion of reality makes any action by Don Quijote
seem completely rational in comparison.
 
Cervante's use of Cide Hamete
Benengeli gives the Don Quijote part of Alonso
Quijana even more creedence. When Don Quijote and Sancho 
learn that their exploits are famous, they
can only be pushed further into their fantasy.
Since the whole country knows of his exploits,
Don Quijote actually receives more 
recognition than he would have if he had been an authentic medieval knight.
Cervantes takes this jump into history one
step further by giving life to the false Don Quijote that the rival author
created.\nextnote{$↑6$}{
Part II, Chapter LXXII, p. 926}
By conceding that this imposter actually lives, Cervantes elevates
the historical authenticity of
the true Quijote even further. Such twists in the plot make the modern reader
wonder if Don Quijote's contemporary readers believed
that he actually roamed the Spanish countryside.
 
One of the most alluring qualities of Don Quijote's ``madness'' is its
contagiousness.
Almost everybody that comes into prolonged contact with Quijote comes away with
a little different outlook on reality. In some people, particularly
Sancho and Sampson Corrasco,
a nearly complete conversion of perspective takes place.
The conversion of Sancho is so extreme because he knows Don Quijote
for so long. Originally lured from La Mancha (The Blemish) by Don Quijote's
promise of a governorship, Sancho experiences Don Quijote's 
world as he rides beside him. Just as Quijote's 
experience in his library infused him with 
his quixotic perspective, so does Sancho's 
experience with the illustrious knight, Don Quijote de la Moncha, change
what he percieves as reality. In the beginning 
of the novel, Sancho questions his senses
when he does not see that the flocks of sheep are
actually two armies of men.\footnote{$↑7$}{
Part I, Chapter XVIII, p. 137}
At this point he would like to believe in Quijote, but
his perspective does not allow it. As the
novel continues, Sancho questions Quijote's 
reality less and less up to the point
at the end of the novel where he
becomes heir to the quixotic perspective.
Similarly, Sampson Carrasco enters the novel
as a skeptic, seeking only to share in Don Quijote's fame. In time, he too is
converted to quixoticism after studying Don
Quijote for so long.
 
Considering the ambiguous nature of Don Quijote's reality,
it is no surprise that Sancho and Carrasco
are able to be converted.
In all matters other than those of knight errantry,
Don Quijote is more rational than most people.
This is witnessed in the scene where Quijote 
gives solid advice to Sancho in the
ways of governing.\nextnote{$↑8$}{
Part II, Chapter XLII, p. 740}
Everything Quijote says makes
perfect sense whether the topic is the 
importance of poetry, or the true nature of 
Mombrino's helmet. It is easy to take what
Don Quijote says for the truth since the reader
sees Quijote's arguments from his perspective---the logic
is naturally infallible.

Accordingly, can we say that Don Quijote's world is as real as anybody else's?
The only solid argument we have against his reality is that it
differs form the popular perspective of reality. His ``madness,'' then, provides
him with improved acuity in some areas as well as lessened
acuity in others. This visionary quality that
inspires his actions can be compared to the quixotic visions of such great 
historical figures as Joan of Arc, Martin Luther, and Jesus.
All of these figures changed their societies by introducing the populus
to new and different experiences. From their teachings, we learn
that our personal perspectives must remain flexible if we are to progress.
By exposing our reality to those of other people we gain a broader
perspective of what we are. By this argument, our personal
reality cannot be a simple relationship dictated to us 
by a philosopher, but an internal picture of our experiences.
If we keep our minds open to the inconstancy of reality then we too, in time, may 
be able to see that windmills are really giants.

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\topspace 3in \ctrline{Cervantes and Don Quijote:}
\vskip  0in \ctrline{A Matter of Perspective}
\vskip 1in  \ctrline{Chris Goodwin}
\vskip  0in   \ctrline{Humanities 62}
\vskip  0in   \ctrline{Professor Ryan}
\ctrline{Brook's Section}
\ctrline{March 5, 1982}
\vfill \eject